TC Training Camp: Day Four

There are, in the lives of men, moments of clarity and unrivalled certainty. Today, whilst on my bicycle, I absorbed some of those moments. Not in a performance sense, but an olfactory one. It is Fat Tuesday, and the small village of Cedar fell into my route about an hour and a half from starting. The quaint little town is famous for the Polish Festival each summer, and it flashed its famous Polish freak flag today as well. The local mini-mart/bakery/butcher/gas station filled the entire town with the sweet sugary scent of paczkis so thickly that I had a bit lingering on me for a mile or two, and that on top of an awful lot of sweat and mud. The Polish flag thhst flies on the hill overlooking Cedar was proudly flapping, and the Bohunk has never been so fond of my fellow Eastern Europeans as on this very day. The ride itself was forty miles with about 1,700 feet of climbing on four hills and a handful of undulating inclines around lealanau peninsula. The weather got up to a very comfortable 36 degrees and the wind was only troublesome for a short portion of the ride. Afterwards I was lucky enough to see the fixed gear wizard himself, Dennis Bean-Larson, for some bike talk. We are looking to create a Cyclocross squad for the fall. The kit, I will note, is awesome and I think the project as a whole would be an impressive product to get the Fixed Gear Gallery and Hell Yes Clothing some great exposure. As always, the link to both sites can be found to the right of this post. Thanks for checking on with the Bohunk, and I'll keep you updated on everything as it comes up.

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TC Training Camp: Day Three, and Stage 2 of Paris-Nice

The weather cooperated to a small degree today to allow for a rare jaunt into the “mountains” of Northern Michigan. The temperature was a balmy 35 degrees in town with an 8 mph wind from the south. The roads were mostly clear around town but near the tops of some of the climbs were spotted with piles of snow with no pavement exposed, meaning a precarious slip through on skinny tires. I did my normal climbing route except for one climb, which ended up being 5 climbs over 300 feet each. The legs are weak, but the lungs were better than I expected and my times on the climbs were not terrible considering my limited training. In Allendale, it would take all day to climb 400 feet, while the very first Col of the day on this ride was over 400 alone. The descents were a bit more dangerous and I took them with some degree of caution, tapping the brake occasionally and checking the shadows mud puddles for ice.

Thomas de Gendt wins on Stage One of Paris-Nice, donning the
Yellow Jersey for the second stage.

In the Paris-Nice, Greg Henderson of Team SKY won in a very close sprint in the second stage, edging out Robbie Hunter of RadioShack, Denis Galimzyanov of Katusha and a personal favorite of the Bohunk’s Heinrich Haussler (Garmim-Cervelo). The terrifying Peter Sagan of Liquigas-Cannondale) wound up fourth. The Bohunk is an excellent predictor of things, though admittedly better when Cheer-Babes are involved. For Paris-Nice, look out for Sagan for the overall. Remember that in a few days’ times…

Saudi Arabia Bans Demonstrations

The US loves freedom, just as long as everybody stays nicely in
line, especially in oil producing nations.

After two weeks of demonstrations and protests, Saudi Arabia has officially banned protests in its country. And public protest will not be dealt with by police and military forces according to a statement released by the nation. After revolutions in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya, the Saudis are pushing to avoid the freedom bandwagon trooping through the Arab world. The country’s clerics announced that all protests are forbidden, saying “The correct way in sharia law of realizing common interest is by advising, which is what the Prophet Muhammad established.” The law is grouped in with regulations already in place banning political parties which they also claim not to be in keeping with Islamic law. Over 17,000 people joined two demonstrations this month in Saudi Arabia, the largest taking place on Friday. Facing them are the nation’s clerics who have sweeping powers in the nation, including the ability to run their own private police squads to enforce religious laws and prosecute those deemed to have violated those laws. After the Gulf War in 1991, some clerics pushed to force King Abdullah to allow an elected Parliament, though nothing in that area has evolved in the past twenty years. After demonstrations, Abdullah recently pledged an extra $37 billion to the citizens of his country.